the zhaf speaks

Thursday, August 30, 2007:

rockin' on.

-unshackled and unfettered he seeks power sublime- 11:21 pm

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Monday, August 27, 2007:

Respect the law of process. It never happens in a day, for champions aren't made in the ring, only recognized there.

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After they scolded Arman, instinctively I gave him a hug, and loaded him up piggy-back, whilst carrying nenek's breakfast up three storeys. The little tyke's resilient, we all are, or at least were, at one time or another. But if only we'd deal with the bad by leading him to the good instead of reinforcing the negatives.

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There's always a price to pay. Pay it forward, live day-to-day, or clear bad debts. Gary my old friend, I lack profundity. I am merely bumbling with the challenges of my present reality. Making it up on the fly, calibrating. Its simple, but it isn't always easy. The superfluous aphorisms are my tentative attempts to delineate the realms of those things which are far gone, from the sifting sands of the mutable, to make corporeal the abstruse abstractions and ephemeral feelings. To hopefully magnify joy, wonder and euphoria, and to diminish anger, resentment and sorrow.

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If you can't have the best of everything, make the best of everything you have.

-unshackled and unfettered he seeks power sublime- 6:52 pm

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Friday, August 17, 2007:

Quoted from wikipedia:

(Benjamin) Graham wrote that investment is most intelligent when it is most businesslike, a statement which Warren Buffett regarded as the most important words about investment ever written. Graham said that the stock investor is neither right nor wrong because others agreed or disagreed with him; he is right because his facts and analysis are right.

Damn straight.

And peculiarly so, value investing, religion, and personal effectiveness seem to converge.

Value investing in a purely business sense is synonymous with the search for corporate integrity.

Religion espouses living a life replete with integrity.

Personal effectiveness has personal integrity enshrined in its foundations.

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To Read
1)Value Investing - From Graham to Buffett and Beyond by Bruce Greenwald
2)The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham

-unshackled and unfettered he seeks power sublime- 2:16 pm

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Tuesday, August 14, 2007:

And when you do it. That matters too, doesn't it? Nebulous questions. The what, how, why, when of it all. Questions the idle mind indefatigably pursues. Circles never end.

Timing aside. For as long as it takes. For now?

And I can't help but agree with Raeza, that coming together after time apart valiantly serves to reaffirm the aye or nay and reveals the true nature of the duet. Perhaps not time apart, as much as it is the search within and without for clarity, fulfilment and purpose. It doesn't quite come together ideally picturesque, when you have frosting without the cake.

So bake the cake.

In any case, watching that particular episode of The Apprentice was ultimately gratifying. I'm glad not just one, but both of those ladies were fired, and more delighted still that only the best were left standing. He may be metrosexual but he got the job done. I'm rooting for him to get the girl. He probably knows deep inside it'll matter more than winning the Apprentice.

On another note, the months of cranial degeneration must be reversed. Whether I finally decide on uni or plunging into the deep-end of salaried work, I will need my wits about me.

-unshackled and unfettered he seeks power sublime- 5:50 am

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Friday, August 10, 2007:

I thoroughly enjoyed the pirates trilogy, and the music is darned bloody good stuff too. Some music here from the ending credits (pretty sure its credits and not titles) from the 2nd part of the trilogy. My fav portions are the dark sinister parts with organ blasting and contrarily so - the quaint little music box. Overall though, it's a brilliant short summary of the stereoscapes of the whole movie. Less than 9 minutes too haha.

Returns A King. The choristers gloriously start off, tribute to Leonidas return from the rites of passage signifying not only a Spartan's ascendancy into manhood, but those which allow him claim over birthright - Kingship of Sparta. Leads into the portions where the retarded Persian messengers ride impetuously into the Spartan city square. And are PWNED. MONSSSSTER KILL. Bloody noobcakes.

THIS... IS... SPARTAAAAA

Here's "Goodbye My Love" from 300. Corresponds to the part where Leonidas decides to "go for a stroll up North" with his entourage of 300. Of course goodbye to his wife and son.

You can't fully appreciate the songs without the accompanying visual media. Nevertheless they still are fine compositions alone. Troy yesterday was brilliant too, especially Achilles' theme. Though I can't find clips on both imeem and blogmusik.

-unshackled and unfettered he seeks power sublime- 12:12 pm

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Row you lazy whores, row! Greeks are dying!
-Ajax. Troy.

And how could anyone bear to stand on the sidelines.

First national day I haven't been able to see the fireworks from my window. The new house built behind mind blotted out the view. Crummy.

But yes, how age changes us. What a world of difference. From the boy who absolutely loathed flag raising ceremonies and pledge taking. And now feeling pride and ardour burning during the march past and stuff.

It's cool to be anti-establishment. Or at least it seemed to be. But it isn't leading to anything meaningful. Not for me. So yeah we grow older. And it's time for me to be boring.

Yes, I'm still not exactly enamoured by the pledge, nor the national anthem. Corrinne May and Kit Chan, while not shabby aren't top of my charts. But still. Underneath it all, so much worth holding on to. So much that resonates, that touches a nerve. So much worth fighting for, literally, figuratively, however so.

Fight. Maybe it's about 42 years, or maybe its about all our tomorrows.

-unshackled and unfettered he seeks power sublime- 3:30 am

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Thursday, August 09, 2007:

When you go
That any of us will go, is as certain as passing on or taxes.

Don't ever think I'll make you turn to stay
The person convinced against their own will, remains unconvinced still.

And maybe when you get back
Said pale-skinned girl from Harry Potter - "What we lose has a tendency to come back to us".

I'll be off to find another way
For life moves on, inexorably. And still certain constants punctuate heart and soul as life's currents move us along.

Above - Wreckage of random discombombulated thoughts and My Chemical Romance lyrics. Go figure.

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I'm currently wondering if a healthy respect for reality, and absolute faith are diametrically opposed. Regardless, the voice of my conscience beckons - ever so shrill - in the middle of the nascent twilight.

That I might define myself through the halcyon visions of the future, of all that God would permit me to be, of all that I can push myself to be.

The world doesn't change, but we do. How many times has that aphorism slipped off my tongue ever so glibly. Ever the challenge to comply.

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The barrier to change is not too little caring; it is too much complexity.
- Bill Gates

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Perhaps the time is nigh, to shirk the comfort and intellectually incapacitating influence of the singular colours of black and white. To explore the realms of the indeterminate shades of grey. To surrender to Mother Process. For Father Outcome might be consorted with only when outside the arena, or when we have finally arrived at his abode.

Verily, with every difficulty, there is relief.
Verily, with every difficulty, there is relief.

-unshackled and unfettered he seeks power sublime- 5:50 am

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Monday, August 06, 2007:

The ultimate responsibility for our lives is ours, and ours alone. To have and to hold. To squander or to exalt. Where we are the mere end of the intimate cause-effect relationship our aggregate decisions have with the inevitable outcomes.

We all choose the level we will play at. Some settle for less, and are capable of contentment. That is appropriate of course, for a niche exists for each and everyone of us, I'd believe. I however, have been settling for less for far too long. I want to step up to the plate, as terrifying as it might be, as onerous a responsibility as it would be to bear.

I only hope I am possessed of the requisite strength of character, moral fibre, and courage - to finally grow up and become what and who I need to be, to play at that higher level.

So dear Lord, keep me ever so close, allow me to hold to my deepest realisations, always. Keep me on the straight and nary, ever in Your service. Emblazon purpose and fulfilment as constant foci in my life, with integrity the common denominator and interminable witness throughout. Leave my heart open and my mind insatiable. Let the fires burn in my belly evermore and may compassion buttress my spirit. And still Thy undeserving servant seeks sufficient protection from the trials and tribulations of the world. In place of absolution from pain and agony, grant me instead Your divine guidance and indestructible cloak of faith, for this wayfarer wishes with all his heart to travel light.

For all I fear should be of naught but You.

-unshackled and unfettered he seeks power sublime- 4:31 am

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Thursday, August 02, 2007:

Right now. There is nothing more in the world I yearn for, than to see your smile once more.

So there's patience. And good things do come to those who wait.

Till we meet again.

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The figurative rollercoaster aside, I haven't felt such relief and joy in a long while. But I realise I'll be late for snooker with my brother soon, so we'll go through this another day.

-unshackled and unfettered he seeks power sublime- 12:42 am

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